Radim Cepek (born 1975) – Czech Republic
Mika Kohonen has been a gift for both the Finnish and Swedish floorball leagues. Five times he has been elected the player of the year in Finland and twice in Sweden. He has also been awarded as the world’s best player three times by media representatives and coaches around the world. Kohonen is without doubt one of the all time best floorball players in the world.
Radim Cepek is the most well known Czech floorball player. He is one of the few players, who has played in seven World Championships. He made his international debut in 1994 and since that moment he has been a part of the national team. His floorball career started in 1993 in the Dream Team Ostrava (nowadays BIX Ostrava) after which he transferred to the historically best Czech team Tatran Stresovice.
He is by many considered to be on a level of his own concerning the game understanding. In his center position he leads and directs a game and gives amazingly accurate passes to his team mates.
Cepek plays mainly as a center forward and is a good playmaker with versatile floorball skills and a leader in the rink. He has experienced not only the Czech championship, but he has also played in Sweden as the very first Czech player, and for several years in Switzerland. After several years abroad Cepek moved back to Czech Republic and the club TJ JM Chodov in 2010. World Championships: Silver 2002 Czech Champion: 1998, 2001 and 2002 with Tatran Best player in Czech Republic: 2001, 2002 and 2003 Clubs: TJ JM Chodov, GS Zürich, UHC Rychenberg Winterthur (SUI), UHC Waldkirch-St. Gallen (SUI), UHC Dietlikon (SUI), IBK Trans (SWE), Vajxö Vipers (SWE), Tatran Stresovice, Dream Team Ostrava
World Championships: Gold 2008, 2010. Silver 2000, 2002, 2006. Bronze 1998, 2004. World Championships All Star forward 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2010 + MVP. EuroFloorball Cup: Gold 2010 with Storvreta IBK Swedish champion: 2004 with Balrog, 2010 and 2011 with Storvreta IBK Player of the year in Finland in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2011 Player of the year in Sweden in 2001 and 2011. Best player in the World in 2002, 2009 and 2010 Clubs: Storvreta IBK (SWE), Balrog (SWE), Happee.
THIS IS FLOORBALL 38
C74, M0, Y100, K0 R61, G181, B74
C77, M19, Y14, K0 R0, G160, B198
C2, M7, Y85, K0 R253, G225, B64
C9, M4, Y17, K0 R230, G232, B212
Niklas Jihde (born 1976) – Sweden
Laura Tomatis (born 1975) – Switzerland
Niklas Jihde is one of the Floorball icons that have been a big factor in the Swedish national team success. He is known to be a mentally strong player in the decisive games and has collected five World Championships gold medals, three EuroFloorball cup victories and won four Swedish championship gold medals. In 1997 Jihde scored the most points in the Swedish League with 59 points (32+27).
The legendary Swiss goalkeeper has been a part of top national and international Floorball for over 10 years. She was elected to the All Star team in her first World Championships in 1999 and still played in the goal 10 years later in the WFC 2009.
ON I T A N
Niklas Jihde has been a leader on the court and has annoyed his opponents by scoring many match winning goals for his team. Jihde’s goal scoring ability is of highest class, as he is able to score goals from any situation, however impossible they might seem. He is especially known for his ability to direct air passes into the net.
Already during his career Jihde was involved in journalistic work and since he ended his career in 2008, he has continued within the media and works as a TV journalist in Sweden. World Championships: Gold 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006. Silver 2008 World Championships All Star forward 2004 Won the scoring league in World Championships 2004 EuroFloorball Cup: Gold 2007, 2007/2008, 2008 with AIK Swedish Champion: 2002 and 2003 with Pixbo Wallenstam, 2006 and 2009 with AIK. Player of the year in Sweden 1998 Clubs: AIK, Grasshopper (SUI), Pixbo Wallenstam, Hovshaga
LOORBALL F L A F
Tomatis is a winning goalkeeper and valuable at the World Championship level. The more at stake in a match, the better she is. Tomatis was the last lock in the Swiss defence in the 2005 World Floorball Championships when the Swiss national team won their first ever World Championships gold medal. She was elected as the All Star goalkeeper in that tournament. Tomatis changed her style of goalkeeping quite late, which tells much about her ability and desire to develop.
ED E
ON TI RA
Kohonen left Finland after five seasons and moved to the Swedish league to play for Balrog, where he won the championship title in 2004. His success in Sweden continues with Storvreta IBK where he has won the Swedish championship gold twice and the EuroFloorball Cup gold in 2010. He has scored the most points in one season in the two best leagues of the world and was one of the first Floorball players to make playing a profession.
C91, M65, Y0, K0 R27, G98, B173
ER
Mika “Mihu” Kohonen (born 1977) – Finland
C75, M68, Y67, K90 R0, G0, B0
INT
Long lasting legends
As Tomatis is originally from the southern and Italian speaking part of Switzerland and has made a lot to promote the sport in the region. She has also been involved in coaching and was the assistant coach for the Under 19 Women’s national team 2008 when the team won the first World Championships gold medal.
World Championships: Gold 2005. Silver 1999, 2003, 2009. Bronze 2007. World Championships All Star goalkeeper 1999 and 2005 U19 World Championships: Gold 2008 (as a coach) EuroFloorball Cup: Gold 2007, 2007/2008, Silver 2009, Bronze 2008 with UHC Dietlikon Swiss Champion: 2007, 2008 and 2009 with UHC Dietlikon Clubs: UHC Dietlikon, Balrog (SWE), IBC Engelholm (SWE), Piranha Chur, KlotenBülach Jets, Jona-Uznach Flames, Zuger Highlands, Gordola.
THIS IS FLOORBALL 39